New video tomorrow: “Game of Thrones” and “The Lord of the Rings,” cyclical theories of civilization, fantasy in a postmodern cultural landscape, how “A Song of Ice and Fire” explores authority and power, and what I believe is the real reason George R. R. Martin has struggled to finish his long-awaited magnum opus.
As we are a week out from the first release, here is the final schedule for the Cardinal West New Review Series, each of which will be anywhere from just shy of 30 minutes to a little over an hour, and will go live in the mornings (EST) on the last day of the month.
Some videos will focus on an individual work, while others will more broadly tackle a series, franchise, or even entire genre. In each case, I will be taking an extensive look at some of my favorite works of storytelling in various media, attempting to offer an original perspective while reflecting on what I love about them, exploring the underlying themes and philosophical ideas that each engages with, and trying to understand in a nuanced manner what they have to say about the world in which we live.
We'll be starting out with a deep-dive into everyone's favorite unfinished fantasy epic, and what I believe are the true reasons for the author's struggles in completing what should be his magnum opus.
Quick update on why some of my older videos aren’t available now:
This last week or so, I’ve been getting a number of claims and restrictions on older videos—it started out on videos I’d already privated, so I didn’t think much of it, but then a few live ones got hit with claims or blocks, as well as one age restriction and one outright strike.
It’s coming from different companies/rights holders, so I don’t know if one bot for some random company stumbling across my videos led to others tagging stuff (no one knows how this system works, to be perfectly honest). Usually, you can appeal successfully if you fight them long enough, but we’ll see.
Thankfully, the longer I’ve been making videos, the more I’ve learned about avoiding Content ID and restrictions and so on, so it seems like it was only my older stuff that was at risk. Still frustrating, but to be safe I’ve privated the videos that were getting hit until I can sort this out, since I really don’t want to risk this channel accumulating restrictions or strikes or anything (another area where I’m not entirely sure how the system even works). Sorry for the inconvenience.
As you may have noticed, my videos have been getting recommended a lot more recently, so there is a good chance that I will hit 50,000 subscribers in the next few months.
To celebrate, I’ll be doing a Q&A, so feel free to leave your questions in the comments, and I’ll begin collecting them right away.
I have also made a short video and twitter announcement, so you can also ask your questions there.
As for a brief content update, I've got two new scripts completed and recorded (with the audio for the first fully edited), so I hope to have one video out in February, and another sometime in April-May. Additionally, I have several remasters of old videos (some of which are already done) coming out over the next few months.
Thanks for everything, and I’ll see you all at 50K!
Hey everyone, I just got verified as a GoodReads author, so if anyone would like to follow me for both reviews and my own releases, you can do so here.
And if you’ve read anything by me, ratings and reviews would be most appreciated.
www.goodreads.com/author/show/22730098.Casimir_Las…
I just finished reading Brian Carter’s "A Black Fox Running", and I wish I’d known about it before I made my xenofiction video, because it is easily one of the greatest animal novels I’ve ever read. There’s a good chance I’ll end up covering it with a video of its own someday, but I thought I’d spread the word here with a little review in the meantime.
Set in rural England shortly after World War II, "A Black Fox Running" follows the life of Wulfgar (the titular black fox) and a number of others of his kind living around Dartmoor as they go about their lives, frequently coming into conflict with a local trapper. It takes the classic structure of an English “fox in foxhunting country” story, but mixes an unflinching level of realism akin to Mannix’s "The Fox and the Hound" with the mythic cultural anthropomorphizing of Adams’ "Watership Down" , and wraps it all in prose as beautiful as J.A. Baker’s "The Peregrine".
The foxes of the novel have myths and religious practices, observing omens in the natural world and receiving visions from their deity, Tod, in the stars, revering death by the local Hunt as the noble “Good Death.” But they also fight, kill, mate, groom, mark territory and relieve themselves in the manner of wild animals. Carter shifts from human to animal perspectives, and between differing species in the case of the latter, with an ease and grace that emphasizes the connected and diverse nature of all living things, tying into the eastern-inspired mysticism present in the foxes’ beliefs. And while the primary antagonist of the novel, Leonard Scoble, is portrayed as a foul-tempered, misanthropic hunter traumatized by his experiences in the First World War, even his characterization remains distinctly nuanced.
Throughout it all, Carter’s prose remains among the most beautiful I have ever read, evocative and fluid while remaining easy to digest and never overstaying its welcome—just see this passage from early on in the novel, where the sickly fox Runeheath is run down by the hounds of the Hunt:
"Numbness cancelled out the sudden flash of fear and beyond the black silence of Lancer’s jaws the country of abundant game and eternal summer moonlight opened to receive him. The crash of hound clamour ended as the beasts milled around the body Runeheath had left behind."
Apparently, the novel was originally published back in 1981, and then mostly forgotten about before being reprinted only a few years ago (with an excellent foreword by an author who was originally inspired by this novel). I highly, <highly> recommend this for anyone interested in xenofiction.
(By the way, shout out to mrspectrum, the commenter who recommended this to me.)
Thanks for getting the channel to 15K! To celebrate this mini-milestone, if anyone has any questions they'd like answered, feel free to post them here.
Thank you all so much for helping this channel reach 10,000 subscribers! I’m currently working on a huge video (2-2.5 hours long), aiming for a mid-April release, but once it’s done I’ll turn my full attention to the Q&A special.
Cardinal West
New video tomorrow: “Game of Thrones” and “The Lord of the Rings,” cyclical theories of civilization, fantasy in a postmodern cultural landscape, how “A Song of Ice and Fire” explores authority and power, and what I believe is the real reason George R. R. Martin has struggled to finish his long-awaited magnum opus.
3 weeks ago | [YT] | 70
View 4 replies
Cardinal West
As we are a week out from the first release, here is the final schedule for the Cardinal West New Review Series, each of which will be anywhere from just shy of 30 minutes to a little over an hour, and will go live in the mornings (EST) on the last day of the month.
Some videos will focus on an individual work, while others will more broadly tackle a series, franchise, or even entire genre. In each case, I will be taking an extensive look at some of my favorite works of storytelling in various media, attempting to offer an original perspective while reflecting on what I love about them, exploring the underlying themes and philosophical ideas that each engages with, and trying to understand in a nuanced manner what they have to say about the world in which we live.
We'll be starting out with a deep-dive into everyone's favorite unfinished fantasy epic, and what I believe are the true reasons for the author's struggles in completing what should be his magnum opus.
For those who prefer reading, essays will be simultaneously posted on Substack at cardinalwestyt.substack.com/
1 month ago | [YT] | 85
View 9 replies
Cardinal West
1 new novel.
15 new videos releasing monthly.
Starting August 31st, 2026.
2 months ago | [YT] | 36
View 5 replies
Cardinal West
I am once again fighting a copyright claim on the Zuko video. Guess we'll see what happens.
2 years ago | [YT] | 193
View 22 replies
Cardinal West
Quick update on why some of my older videos aren’t available now:
This last week or so, I’ve been getting a number of claims and restrictions on older videos—it started out on videos I’d already privated, so I didn’t think much of it, but then a few live ones got hit with claims or blocks, as well as one age restriction and one outright strike.
It’s coming from different companies/rights holders, so I don’t know if one bot for some random company stumbling across my videos led to others tagging stuff (no one knows how this system works, to be perfectly honest). Usually, you can appeal successfully if you fight them long enough, but we’ll see.
Thankfully, the longer I’ve been making videos, the more I’ve learned about avoiding Content ID and restrictions and so on, so it seems like it was only my older stuff that was at risk. Still frustrating, but to be safe I’ve privated the videos that were getting hit until I can sort this out, since I really don’t want to risk this channel accumulating restrictions or strikes or anything (another area where I’m not entirely sure how the system even works). Sorry for the inconvenience.
3 years ago | [YT] | 162
View 33 replies
Cardinal West
As you may have noticed, my videos have been getting recommended a lot more recently, so there is a good chance that I will hit 50,000 subscribers in the next few months.
To celebrate, I’ll be doing a Q&A, so feel free to leave your questions in the comments, and I’ll begin collecting them right away.
I have also made a short video and twitter announcement, so you can also ask your questions there.
As for a brief content update, I've got two new scripts completed and recorded (with the audio for the first fully edited), so I hope to have one video out in February, and another sometime in April-May. Additionally, I have several remasters of old videos (some of which are already done) coming out over the next few months.
Thanks for everything, and I’ll see you all at 50K!
3 years ago | [YT] | 667
View 87 replies
Cardinal West
Hey everyone, I just got verified as a GoodReads author, so if anyone would like to follow me for both reviews and my own releases, you can do so here.
And if you’ve read anything by me, ratings and reviews would be most appreciated.
www.goodreads.com/author/show/22730098.Casimir_Las…
3 years ago | [YT] | 75
View 5 replies
Cardinal West
I just finished reading Brian Carter’s "A Black Fox Running", and I wish I’d known about it before I made my xenofiction video, because it is easily one of the greatest animal novels I’ve ever read. There’s a good chance I’ll end up covering it with a video of its own someday, but I thought I’d spread the word here with a little review in the meantime.
Set in rural England shortly after World War II, "A Black Fox Running" follows the life of Wulfgar (the titular black fox) and a number of others of his kind living around Dartmoor as they go about their lives, frequently coming into conflict with a local trapper. It takes the classic structure of an English “fox in foxhunting country” story, but mixes an unflinching level of realism akin to Mannix’s "The Fox and the Hound" with the mythic cultural anthropomorphizing of Adams’ "Watership Down" , and wraps it all in prose as beautiful as J.A. Baker’s "The Peregrine".
The foxes of the novel have myths and religious practices, observing omens in the natural world and receiving visions from their deity, Tod, in the stars, revering death by the local Hunt as the noble “Good Death.” But they also fight, kill, mate, groom, mark territory and relieve themselves in the manner of wild animals. Carter shifts from human to animal perspectives, and between differing species in the case of the latter, with an ease and grace that emphasizes the connected and diverse nature of all living things, tying into the eastern-inspired mysticism present in the foxes’ beliefs. And while the primary antagonist of the novel, Leonard Scoble, is portrayed as a foul-tempered, misanthropic hunter traumatized by his experiences in the First World War, even his characterization remains distinctly nuanced.
Throughout it all, Carter’s prose remains among the most beautiful I have ever read, evocative and fluid while remaining easy to digest and never overstaying its welcome—just see this passage from early on in the novel, where the sickly fox Runeheath is run down by the hounds of the Hunt:
"Numbness cancelled out the sudden flash of fear and beyond the black silence of Lancer’s jaws the country of abundant game and eternal summer moonlight opened to receive him. The crash of hound clamour ended as the beasts milled around the body Runeheath had left behind."
Apparently, the novel was originally published back in 1981, and then mostly forgotten about before being reprinted only a few years ago (with an excellent foreword by an author who was originally inspired by this novel). I highly, <highly> recommend this for anyone interested in xenofiction.
(By the way, shout out to mrspectrum, the commenter who recommended this to me.)
4 years ago (edited) | [YT] | 100
View 10 replies
Cardinal West
Thanks for getting the channel to 15K! To celebrate this mini-milestone, if anyone has any questions they'd like answered, feel free to post them here.
5 years ago | [YT] | 34
View 19 replies
Cardinal West
Thank you all so much for helping this channel reach 10,000 subscribers! I’m currently working on a huge video (2-2.5 hours long), aiming for a mid-April release, but once it’s done I’ll turn my full attention to the Q&A special.
5 years ago | [YT] | 61
View 6 replies
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